This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of mushroom plant of Bunashimeji mushroom, Hypsizygus marmoreus (Peck) Bigelow. This new variety named ‘marmo shiro-2’ cultivated by repeated breeding of Bunashimeji mushrooms having dominant traits, which has less adhesion of stem, excellent keeping quality and improved after-storage taste and ensure presentable stability, reproducibility and uniformity.
Bunashimeji (Hypsizygus marmoreus) now boasts of being the second most consumed edible mushroom after enokitake mushroom. Ever since bunashimeji was cultivated and began to be sold in large quantities in the market, its characteristic bitter taste had been a matter of concern. Consequently, ‘Hokuto-8 strain’, whose bitterness has been reduced to an imperceptible level, was developed to develop a tasty Bunashimeji mushroom. Investigation on tasty bunashimeji was continued even after the development of ‘Hokuto-8’, and a variety with better taste, quality and keeping quality named ‘Hokuto-18 strain’ was developed, which contributed to increase in consumption. However, most of the naturally growing mushrooms that are popular in Japan from the olden days are collected at the beginning of autumn, due to which one generally forms an image of autumn and winter when the word mushroom is heard. We started working on the development of a new variety of mushroom that can be used with bright-colored vegetables of summer in salad and other recipes since we can stably supply them throughout the year by growing under protected conditions. As a result, the ‘Hokuto shiro-1 strain’ mushroom that has refreshing whiteness and jellylike food texture was developed and patented in US (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 16,294 P3).
In order to further improve the stability of cultivation and quality of mushrooms, selective breeding was repeatedly carried out by cross-breeding. As a result, the ‘marmo shiro-2 strain’ that has the whiteness and food-texture of ‘Hokuto shiro-1’, as well as the quality and keeping quality of ‘Hokuto-18’ was developed. Subsequently, the stability, reproducibility and uniformity of the variety were verified, and cultivation was completed.